Posted on 06/24/2012 8:10:28 AM PDT by marktwain
Earlier this month, an attempt by the Obama Administration to slash funds for the Federal Flight Deck Officer Program (FFDO) was rejected by the House of Representatives, which passed legislation to ensure that the program, which permits qualified and trained airline pilots to carry firearms in the cockpit of commercial flights, remains alive and well.
“Pilots are the first line of defense against terrorist attacks in the sky, and the most cost-effective layer of security that we have in a system that’s prone to security breaches,” said Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman John L. Mica (R-FL), in a press release.
Mica worked with the House Appropriations Committee to prevent what would have been a 50 percent reduction in annual funding for FFDO or $12.5 million. The FFDO provision was included as part of the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act (H.R. 5855).
“Having armed pilots in the cockpit is an important layer of defense against terrorism, especially given the endless examples of the massive TSA bureaucracy’s other failures,” Mica said. “It would be foolish to gut security programs that actually work, like the Federal Flight Deck Officer Program, in which our airline pilots bear much of the training costs and help ensure the cockpit is defended.”
The efficiency and cost-savings aspect of the FFDO is tough to argue. When compared to the Federal Air Marshal program, for example, FFDO is much cheaper.
According to Marcus Flagg, president of the Federal Flight Deck Officer Association, the cost of putting a federal air marshal on a flight is about $3,300 next to the cost of arming a pilot, which is about $15.
"This is the most cost-effective security measure," said Flagg (to read more on this, click here).
Mica’s agenda wasn’t just about preserving the FFDO, it was also about trimming the fat. He spearheaded a decision to cut almost $60 million from two much-loathed bureaucracies, the Department of Homeland Security and the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). Government reports indicate that the number of administrative positions at the TSA is over 14,000 - including 3,986 who work out of Washington, DC, earning an average of $103,852 per year.
“TSA is an agency that’s out of control,” Mica continued. “The DHS Appropriations bill not only sustains the successful FFDO Program, it takes steps towards reducing expenditures for TSA’s bloated army of administrative staff, and for programs that are not working.”
“Congress must continue to reform this misguided agency,” he added.
In the past ten years, the TSA has committed 25,000 security breaches. To be fair, “breaches” is a broad term that includes anything from a misplaced bag to a smuggled weapon or to a failure to intercept a Nigerian man traveling with no ID and an expired boarding pass imprinted with the name of a different passenger.
Still though, Mica’s sentiments are correct. The government should be looking to embrace cost-effective programs such as FFDO and streamline (or dismantle) the rest.
Questions:
Do you approve of the FFDO program? Do you believe law-abiding citizens should have the right to carry a firearm aboard an aircraft?
(Picture credit Walt Maciborski - check out his pics of the FFDO training here)
The Israeli airlines have been arming their pilots for decades - with excellent results.
Seems like a no-brainer...
If the feds weren’t for some reason under the impression this was something we needed their “permission” to do, it wouldn’t cost them (us) a nickel.
We routinely had armed pilots into the 60’s. Mail carriers were required to be armed, as I recall. Here is some info about how TSA discourages pilots from the program:
Dec 13, 03, 9:43 am
Because if you had, you would know that the TSA requires volunteers for the armed pilot corps to undergo extra psychological exams and pilots are worried that the TSA (which is strongly opposed to arming pilots) may judge the pilot unqualified, which might lead to a revocation of their ticket. Job over. Career over. That’s the thinly veiled threat the TSA holds over armed pilots.
Link above:
consider the armed pilot program that the TSA has constructed. Understand that the TSA is opposed to the armed pilot program. Last year, the TSA granted itself the power to revoke a pilot’s ATP if it deems him to be a security threat. Pilots who volunteer for training to carry guns must complete a very detailed, 13-page application and submit to a three-hour written psychological exam probing into the most private workings of any person: his thoughts, feelings, opinions and emotions. Pilots who pass this government-sponsored psychological strip-search are then ordered to report to a government psychologist for a one-on-one “interview.”
Airline pilots evaluate the totality of the TSA’s armed-pilot program and they have declined to participate in droves. Too many airline pilots view the TSA armed pilot program as a potentially career threatening fiasco that will cost each pilot who volunteers at least one week of flight pay and require him to bare his soul to an out-of-control government agency that hates the idea of armed pilots. Couple this with the breathtaking failure of many current and former military pilots with top-secret clearances to pass the TSA psychological evaluations and pilots are saying, “No, thanks.”
To justify their intrusive tactics, the TSA says, “We need to make sure that each pilot we allow to fly armed can use the gun to kill terrorists and then be calm enough to land safely.” In other words, We think that you’d be better off dead. Obviously, pilots won’t volunteer for the program in the first place unless they are willing to use a gun. Moreover, if a pilot is “screened out” of the program by the TSA psychological soothsayers and terrorists attack his cockpit, the outcome is very certain: He, all of his passengers and possibly many thousands on the ground will soon be dead. A logical armed-pilot program would not be looking for ways to screen pilots out; it would be looking for ways to encourage more volunteers.
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/archive/t-265949.html
Pilots are just a bunch of white boys. Screw ‘em. And that is the Obama regime’s thinking
Interesting, isn't it, that it was the Clinton administration that disarmed flight crews priot to 9/11. Actually, they rescinded a policy that had existed since the beginning of manned flight, for many decades, just seven years before 9/11.
“Actually, they rescinded a policy that had existed since the beginning of manned flight, for many decades, just seven years before 9/11.”
Thanks for the info - I did not know that...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.